[Emotional and attentive interferences and slow cerebral potentials (CNV-P 300) (author's transl)]

A study was conducted to establish possible correlations between electrophysiological indices and performance under neutral situations and those involving completing a double task of increasing complexity, by studying CNV and P 300 in young healthy men. The results demonstrated that: 1. After habituation, the CNV amplitudes were not related to performance. A significant correlation was noted only during the most complex tasks. 2. The CNV appears to depend mainly on endogenous factors, that is to say the aptitude and readiness of an individual to treat the information, rather than on the performance resulting from this treatment. 3. The amplitude of the P 300 is related to performance, as a function of detection rate and the complexity of the tasks. The functional duality of the CNV and the differences between it and the P 300 have been emphasized. The indices obtained from slow potentials appear to be of value for an evaluation of behaviour. Rather than analyzing the characteristics of the potentials in a supposedly "neutral" situation it would appear preferable to establish, from the indices, profiles of individual reactivity and adaptation to different experimental situations.